Old Habits Die Hard
by VampbaitInfinity
Summary: Long thought to be dead, a girl from Aang's past has reemerged and awaken something within the young man that he thought died long before the war. AangXOC They will fuck in later chapters, don't worry.
1. Chapter 1

**( I would like to say that this fanfic is one that's been hanging around my subconscious since the 5th grade. Don't believe me? You _really_ must not know me! ****)**

**Author's P.O.V.**

_The Southern Air Temple: 103 years prior to date_

_"Aang, c'mon! We'll get in trouble if we're late again!", the girl struggled to keep up, running as fast as her tawny legs could carry her._

_"Our being late or not depends on you, Aadita! You have to do it!", upon his air scooter, Aang circled the next to exhausted girl twice, laughing carelessly at her enraged expression. "We only have a few minutes left before dinner...!"_

_"But I can't do it! You know I'm terrible at Airbending!"_

_"You can do it! I know you can! You just have to relax and let go. Believe that you can do it and you will.", the young Air Nomad laughed again grasping the girls hand to give her a head start. She was still running at full speed, but the minute he grabbed her hand her feet left the ground and she was accelerated further and faster than before. Just as terror gripped her heart at the speed she was going and the risk of falling caught her breath-she felt something begin within her...joy. Before she even knew it, and had all but let go off her hand. Aadita was almost floating on her very own. "You're doing it! You're doing it! Now focus that energy into a sphere beneath you!"_

_Following his instructions carefully, she reluctantly let go of his hand and swiveled her body around to gather the surrounding air into the desired form. She felt her breath coming more easily now, her lungs relaxing and expanding as she felt wind begin to cycle between her splayed hands and redirect itself into an endless cycle as it expanded. And then, as she placed her body in that familiar position above it, not fully sitting or standing, her to resting on the sphere of pure air...she smiled._

_"I knew you could do it, Aadi! You did it perfectly! You just had to let go and believe in yourself." Aang flashed her a dazzling smile, which she returned eagerly as she rode her air scooter over to him. In her happiness she threw herself at him in a bear hug, knocking him off of his scooter kissing his cheeks repeatedly and thanking him over and over again for everything. Once they both had stopped laughing, they noticed how low the sun had sunk behind the clouds. "We'd better get out of here. Fast."_

_"Hey, Aang."_

_"Yeah?"_

_"Not bad for a Waterbender, huh?", she smirked._

_They both summoned up their air vehicles and set off toward the main Air Temple._

_The Southern Air Temple Entrance:102 years prior to date _

_"Aang where are you going? It's not the end of the world that you're the A-" She rushed after him, struggling to keep up with his long strides._

_ He turned on his heel suddenly and faced her with an expression of pure malice, one she'd never before seen on her dear friend's face. "You knew, didn't you?!"_

_"What? I don't-"_

_"You knew that I was the Avatar all along and never told me! I thought you were my friend, Aadita! I thought that I could always trust you!"_

_Tears threatened to fill her eyes as his words cut her heart. "Aang, I knew, but it never changed how I felt about you. They told me not to tell you for your own good."_

_"So you hid this from me all my life and lied to my **face**! You're **worse** than them!", he balled his fists, his body trembling with anger._

_"It wasn't my place to tell you! And despite that fact I have never, ever treated you any different! You are the dearest person to my heart. I'd never hurt you!", she reached a hand out toward him, not at all expecting him to pull away."Aang, please understand. I was powerless to do anything."_

_"You're the only person I could count on..." Tears filled those grey eyes that she adored, making her heart break more than his words could. "And now the entire world will be counting on me...! I can't do it alone! I'm only a kid!"_

_Before she could stop herself, she threw her arms around him, tears filling her Amber eyes as his arms slowly closed around her back and clutched onto her. The sobbed heavily against her, his entire body trembling with a kind of oncoming terror that he'd never before experienced in his young life. The sky had long since gone dark and the sky overhead soon began to become cloaked in clouds, a storm not far off._

_"I can't...I can't stay here, Aadita. I'll come back soon enough but...I just need to get out of here. Now. It feel like I can't breath!"_

_"It will be alright, Aang. I promise you that. And I'm not objecting to your decisions...but I insist on coming with you. I don't want you to be alone out there."_

_The young monk looked at her for a long time, searching her eyes for something. Finally, instead of giving her an answer, he offered a hand and helped her up onto Appa's back before mounting the beast as well._

_"Yip yip!"_

_He almost didn't notice when she gripped his clammy hand tightly with her own._

_Unknown Seas_

_"Aang?"_

_"Hmmm?" Half asleep but roused by her voice, he turned over in his spot in Appa's saddle to look at her._

_"I-...um..."_

_"What is it?" She had his full attention now._

_"I...wanted to...t-to ask you something." She was looking off at the water below, gently manipulating the rise and fall of the waves._

_"What is it? Is something wrong?" She wouldn't allow him to meet her gaze, something that she never did._

_Eventually, she stopped her bending and looked over at him, the silky waves of her ebony locks dancing about her shoulders in the wind as she fixed him with an amber stare. The setting sun behind her lit her features ablaze, her brown skin becoming an alarming shade of gold and her hair taking on a reddish hue. He tried not to stare._

_"What am I to you, Aang?", she finally said, the waves crashing almost drowning out her voice._

_"What? What do you mean?", he asked._

_"What do I mean to you, truly?"_

_"Aadi...you mean the world to me. You're my best friend. You're the closest thing to family I h-"_

_"No. Not as family. Not as a friend. I mean more." Her tone was pointing toward something else, something that he couldn't quite fathom._

_"What are...I don't know what you mean."_

_She flushed, looking away for a moment and biting her lip before looking at him again. "Do you think of me in a different kind of way...something more like a lover?"_

_"A...lover?" His face had become something like a tomato at this point and he was suddenly unable to look at her either. "Why would you think that?"_

_His words threatened to break her heart, but she wasn't about to give up until she had a sure answer. "Yes, a lover. I want to know if you cared for me in that way."_

_"I...I don't know." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I've never thought about you in that way."_

_He was lying._

_"Well now that you have the thought in your head, I'd like to know how you feel." She could feel her chest tightening around the next words. "Do you have those kinds of feelings for me, Aang?"_

_"I-I don't know."_

_He was still lying._

_"You need to know now Aang. **I** need to know."_

_"I...I mean, I do care abou you. A lot. More than anything in my life. And you're so nice, and smart, and the best Waterbender I've ever met. And your eyes are so weird, but that's why I like them. And I have the best time when we spar together. You fight really good. And you're...-" He swallowed. "-...pretty. Really pretty. It's...breathtaking at times. And you're my best friend, someone that I can always come to for anything and you always make me feel better...and you're always there for me no matter what. And..." _

_She come closer since he'd began, causing his heart to beat a little faster._

_"And...you love me."_

_She gently grasped his hand, the wind strengthening and whipping her hair and gown about her body, the air and ocean seeming to be caught in the intensity of the moment. His blush was fading, as hers had, their fingers slowly intertwining as they locked eyes once more. She edged closer, her knees meeting his as her other hand grasped the one she was already holding._

_"You...love me, Aadita..."_

_She looked away momentarily, looking back at him, her gaze burning with honest surrender. His heart swelled with an unknown emotion at this realization, her cool hands around his own sending warmth into his chest. The girl leaned closer, squeezing his hand gently without breaking her gaze. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she decided on what she was about to do next._

_"Aang..."_

_Amber eyes flickered down to a pair of lips and back up again._

_"Aadi...?"_

_Coal orbs widened at what was about to come._

_"I...want you to feel what I feel."_

_Tawny hands began to tremble._

_"I want...I want that too."_

_A young Airbender leaned forward to meet her._

_"Don't...don't hurt me. Don't break my heart."_

_A pale hand met a sun kissed cheek._

_"I would never."_

_Rain drops began to fall all around, caught in the wind as they rushed past the two. The bliss of warm lips melding together was something beyond the two's imaginations. Comfort and understanding, connection and the beginnings of something new and pure and good, all these things combined with an uninhibited joy that blossomed in the place of uncertainty and self preservation. In this moment, everything was perfect. A young monk found a happiness and acceptance he'd never before known, slipping his hands from her and her cheek to softly grip her upper arms. And his dearest friend had found what she'd hoped to have but never thought possible, her own hands finding his shoulders and willing him closer._

_Neither of them even realized they were soaked to the bone with rain, the heat of their bodies repelling the chill. And as they broke apart for a much needed breath, eyes meeting seemingly for the very first time, a world of promise seemed to open before the, like a jasmine blossom in season, flourishing with a beauty incomparable to everything surrounding it in existence._

_And then a crash of lightning broke the euphoria._

_Appa bellowed loudly, swerving between waves that seemed to have risen in height and power. Springing into action and taking the reigns, Aang pulled Appa as high as possible into the sky. Aadita took it upon herself to tie down any loose items before joining Aang at the reigns. The young Airbender pulled the reigns as hards as he could, Appa responding by flying as high as possible, but the turbulence was almost as threatening as the enormous waves, one of which might have snatched them on the way to the sky if Aadita hadn't swung her arm and dashed it just moments before. The wind swung them round without remorse, Appa barely able to remain vertical...and then a sudden crash of thunder and lightning accompanied by a gust with the force of a tornado sent them all sprawling into the waters below._

_Everything around them all was a mass of turbulent white and darkness, the water so forceful that they two weren't able to keep a hold of Appa's reigns, their entwined hands slipping apart as they were thrown into the depths._

_And then a blinding light overcame them all._

_Ba Sing Se:101 years later present day_

"I don't know how you find these places, Toph! This food is insane!", Sokka exclaimed, vigorously slurping the remains of his and Katara's noodles down his gullet before shoving several buns into his mouth.

"Well, when ya can't see, your other senses lead you to all sorts of places. Plus, it doesn't hurt that Iroh sent me a flyer for this place since the owner's sons grow his tea leaves.", the Earthbending master said, picking her teeth with a tooth pick as she reclined onto some cushions.

"Imjustgladthatitsabuffet!", and said through a mouth full of food, chewing happily.

"Aang, don't chew with your mouth full!", Katara chided, using her napkin to dab at his mouth. "Honestly, the Avatar shouldn't be eating like a pig."

"It'sfineIcandoit!" He swallowed his food, rolling his eyes at her comment. He got up to go use the restroom, slipping Momo a few lecchi nuts under the table.

"Bring back more buns...mmmf!" Sokka said, snatching one from a pouting Katara.

The Avatar walked to around the rear of the restaurant. Not seeing the sign saying "Restroom", Aang spotted a waitress putting tea and a bowl of nuts on some arriving customers' table. He walked over to her to ask where the restroom was located and for more buns for his table, when something strange made him stop in his tracks. Something about her...something familiar made him both afraid and hopeful for something he couldn't fathom. And when she turned and her amber eyes met his, she too stopped short and stared back at him, her face a mixture of emotions. A wave of memories and feelings crept up over the two-

-and then she was in his arms, their lips together in a passionate embrace as they felt the world around them melt away-

"Aang, what are you doing?"

Reality crashed back around the Air Nomad as he broke the kiss, looking over at a dumbfounded Katara with a just as shocked expression.

Just how was a man supposed to explain that the long since deceased love of his life was back to his current girlfriend?

He managed a single phrase.

"This is Aadita and she's an Airbender too."

* * *

**(If you think that was it, you have another thing coming...yes, I'm aloud to make jokes! Lolz please let me know what you think.)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's P.O.V.**

_The Ba Sing Se Imperial Palace's Garden: 101 years later present day_

"So...what you're trying to say is that your childhood friend _somehow_ survived that storm that made you get caught in that iceberg and is also a _Muilti_bender who you thought was dead for the last 101 years but has miraculously survived, barely aged a day since, and has made it thousands of miles from where she was originally found without the help a a hundred ton flying bison?", Sokka asked, stroking his faux beard with his trademark sarcastically raised eyebrow._  
_

Aang nodded. "Precisely."

"And she doesn't know how she survived either, woke up on the shores of the Earth Kingdom, and eventually gave up hope of ever figuring out what had happened. And then became a waitress.", Toph assumed, rolling a few stones over the backs of her knuckles.

"Exactly." The girl known as Aadita nodded, twirling Momo's tail around her right wrist as he clung to the nape of her neck.

"So what part of that explains why you were smackin' lips with the girl?!" Katara was still visibly fuming, her eyes burning holes into the side of the young Monk's head. She'd been pacing the room during the entire explanation, hyper aware of how close the two had been sitting together. "I want an explanation. Now!"

Aang began rubbing the back of his neck, his cheeks darkening with not quite embarrassment. "Um, well...you see-"

"That was just a kind of...caught in the moment thing. Neither one of us was thinking clearly, I suppose." Aadita waved her hand dismissively.

"You're lying." Toph stated.

Sokka pointed his finger at the two, dramatically letting it tremble as his eyes bugged out of their sockets. "GUILTY! TEN THOUSAND YEARS DUNGEON!"

"No, we aren't quite _lying_, we just-"

Katara cut Aang off. "I want the truth, Aang! Have you been cheating on m-"

"NO! I would never! I just-I-I-The truth is...I've been cheating on her for the last hundred years or so.", he said sadly, looking away from the group with a deep sense of shame heavy in his chest.

"W-wha...Toph?"Katara looked at the Earthbender to confirm the news, getting a curt nod in return.

"We were...involved. Brefly. But, nothing ever came of it. I suppose seeing each other again just...brought back old habits." Aang looked at Aadita with an incredulous look, her expression in turn unreadable. "But that was in the past. We've all moved on."

A sharp pang pierced Aang's heart.

Toph said nothing.

"So there is nothing left to do now except introduce Aadita to the rest of the family, huh?" Sokka stashed his beard for the next intervention and offered a hand to the newcomer, who took the gesture warmly and let herself be led to the door. "Wait till Zuko gets a load of this! A super cool new Avatar-ish mutant lady. No offense."

"None taken!", she giggled, walking off with Toph and Sokka toward where Appa was outside. She did not look back.

Katara stepped forward, her hand on Aang's shoulder caused him to jump, her expression placid and loving. She leaned down to embrace him from behind, "Glad that's over. I'm sorry I doubted you, Aang." She kissed him sweetly on the lips. Eventually he responded and kissed her back, his mind still on his 'friend'.

_Why would she deny everything like that?_

_Ember Island: 6 years later_

The feeling of blood and adrenaline pumping through her veins was something that always made her feel as though her bending was stronger than ever. With each and every different pose and position she moved through, a new chakra was opened and her breath followed soon afterward, her inner energies shortly harmonizing. The whole of her body hummed with the freeing sensations. The tide lapped at her toes with each breath and receded with each practiced move. The evening's rays of sunlight relaxed and awakened her simultaneously, making her feel a kind of happiness that Aadita hadn't felt in hundreds of years.

Aang had missed that infectious grin of hers, his eyes draw to the way she seemed to glow in the low light. The expanse of her skin skin was highlighted in crimson and tangerine, her exposed legs, lower back, shoulders, and neck glistening with a thin sweat. He couldn't remember when he'd last seem something so beautiful. This fleeting thought made a wave a guilt wash over him, as Katara was napping across his lap in his spot on the veranda. With the peach colored curtains billowing around him and the soft sulfur and ocean scent of the breeze washing over him, he could almost forget that he wasn't out there, happy and free of all the duties he'd had to embrace over the last few years.

And though he had come out triumphant in the end, it had taken an emotional toll. He'd had to grow up so quickly, to adjust to this new world, this new age, his new place in the world-he hadn't had the time to grow and change as most youths do. It's just..._happened_. But looking out at the luminescent figure, the waves dancing at her feet, he felt as though her were a child again, looking out his window at the Southern Air Temple, preparing for a nightly escapade at the turtleduck ponds, searching the bottom for odd looking plants and crustaceans they hadn't yet found, their hushed laughter thrumming like a heartbeat in the air around them, his pants wet with the water, her gown clinging to her thighs with the dampness, the full moon casting a ghostly glow over the glow-in-the-dark mosses and-

Aang shook his head, bringing himself back to reality. He had to get a grip. He couldn't let old feelings come between Katara and him. He couldn't lose sight of the future, blinded by the past.

That also didn't mean he had to throw his past away, either.

He glanced down at Katara, his stomach in knots with anxiety and remorse. Guiding a lush pillow under her head to replace his thighs, the young Avatar walked silently out of the room, hoping to catch Aadita before she left the beach. There were many things that they needed to talk about.

* * *

**(If you think that was it, you have another thing coming...yes, I'm aloud to make jokes! Lolz please let me know what you think.)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's P.O.V.**

_Ember Island Shore_

Aadita fluidly moved the tendril of water across the space in front of her, trying her best not to let her focus waver when she felt those familiar grey eyes on her. She sighed, easing the water just barely over the surface of the surf, "What is it, Aang?"

"I never could surprise you, could I?", he chuckled, scratching at the stubble on his head. When she didn't answer or even turn around, he sighed and st on a smoothed boulder to his right. "Why're you acting like this, Aadi?"

"I don't know what you mean." She crouched down and swept her water across the sand at her feet, twirling it around her ankles twice before letting it soar up into the sky.

"You're avoiding me."

She slowed the rushing water and spread it around her in a this sheet of mist, "What business do I have with the Avatar?"

Aang felt a pang of hurt at the unfamiliar title. "You are my very best friend in this entire world. You've never treated me any differently before or after I was the Avatar. What's wrong?"

The mist suddenly evaporated and an overwhelming heat began to build in it's place.

"Aadi?"

"Don't you have someplace to be, Aang? I'm sure Katara's missing you by now. You don't want to keep her waiting." Her voice was monotone and as cold as ice.

"Aadi, that's not-"

She spun around, flames tumbling through her curls and her golden eyes simmering with rage.

"That IS it, Aang. You have someone now. Things can NEVER be the same."

The young Avatar was on his feet in seconds, grabbing her wrists in his hands and pulling her to him. He held her like this until she stopped cursing him and struggling, his heart breaking again as tears cooled the inferno behind her eyes. She slumped against him, his arms wrapping her in an embrace that she'd been aching for for many, many years. And even as his evening rays bore down on them, she'd never felt more cold.

"This isn't fair...this hurts...! I should have just died in that iceberg!", she wailed into his chest, trembling with anguish.

Aang's chest clenched painfully at her harsh words, pulling her to arms length and staring with disbelief at her tear-stained face and the broken look in her eyes. "Don't you dare say that! Don't you _ever_ say that!"

She tried to jerk away from him, more tears streaming down her cheeks at the security of his hold on her, "What would it have mattered?! You would have moved on and not had to deal with this now! You would have been married, with beautiful children before this year ended, with friends who love you a pretty wife to match. And you wouldn't have had to ever think about me again...and I wouldn't have to have my heart break every time I see you with her."

The venom in her words, the defeat behind her eyes, the walls she'd put up to guard herself from the reality that she could never have what she wanted the most-

He reached up, a sob breaking from her as he gently cupped her cheek. She tried to flinch away again, gasping when he jerked her very close to his own body; He was never so forceful, especially not with her. But there was pure passion behind his eyes, a strong conflict raging behind grey eyes. She anticipated his next move, trembling under his touch and acutely aware of how close they were. And the look in his eyes was one that he'd never given her before. Aang rubbed his thumb over her cheek bone, trailing it down to her trembling lips. Aadita closed her eyes as the young Avatar gently rubbed her lower lip, the air between the two becoming electric and tense. His eyes searched her face as his body leaned into hers, the intimacy behind his body language making her breath come in short pants. Two hearts pounded furiously as he held her to him, his mind on auto-pilot, her own immobile. His lips drew closer to hers making her gasp and hold her breath as if there was an invisible force pushing in on her lungs from all sides. Aang was in much the same state, but was much to ensnared in the moment to do anything more than act upon instinct. He drew her flush against his body, placing his lips softly against hers-

"A-Aang...don't.", she whispered against his lips, her body strung tight and tense until he slightly drew back. She released a shaky breath and slumped against his body as he rested his chin on top of her soft curls.

He felt awful, completely and utterly guilty for having tried to give...to _take_ a kiss that did not belong to him. He had Katara, their future together, his pledged integrity to her...and yet every moment he spent holding Aadita, he could not fathom the thought ever ever having to let go, let alone substitute the love of his life for the love of his existence. He could sense the pain she was feeling in the way she seemed to curl in on herself, trying to subconsciously guard herself even from the intensity of his affection. She deserved more than that, more than the leftovers he was permitted to give her. He finally released her and, without a word, she took off down the beach.

He watched her go, and watched his heart go with her.

* * *

_Ember Island Resort: Weeks Later_

"You aren't going to beat me Zuko! Just give up now!" Aadita taunted, redirecting a fireball back at the young Fire Lord as she jumped from the crumbling ground beneath her feet.

"Just because you're some sort of Avatar-hybrid doesn't mean you can stand up to a _true,"_ He snuffed out her flame and vaulted over a rising tower of earth_, "_ firebending master.

Toph stood on the sidelines, continuing to kick up obstacles for the two to dodge and hurdle over within the battle. Sokka cheered and yelled out encouragement for whoever seemed to be winning, Aang and Katara each picking a different person to cheer for, Aang for Aadita and Katara for Zuko. The duelers each dodged quick sand and the running at the other full on, flames gathering in their palms just before she sent a diversion kick at the side of his head just as he caught her ankle and flipped her over, both of their smoldering hands collding and sending them sprawling back several paces.

"Woooh! You can do it, Aadita! ", Aang cheered, jabbing the air in front of him.

Katara gave him a side glance, going on to avidly cheer for Zuko.

"Give it up, amateur! You can't beat me!" Zuko came at her with a barrage of punches and sweeping kicks that she could barely dodge, but she was light on her feet and kept just out of range of all of his attacks. Pushing his wrist down and away from her, she quickly back flipped out of range before thrusting two fingers toward the sky-

-and lightning began to crackle at her fingertips.

"No way!", Sokka dropped his arms, glancing back at Aang who shrugged, an equally perplexed look on everyone else's face. All except Toph, who smirked and nodded at Aadita.

Zuko quickly took the same stance and gathered lightning across his body. They were syncronized in every motion, drawing the electricity from the air whilst steadying themselves on trembling rock. They came at each other, full speed, hands aglow with lightning and just when they were face to face, they each stopped short and shot their lightning into the sky overhead, diverting the energy in two extremely powerful spurts.

"How...", Zuko panted, slowly lowering his arm as the ground around them settled back to normal level.

"I'm a fast learner. And Toph helped.", she replied smugly,

Sokka leaned over to Toph, "Can you teach me to shoot lightning at people?"

"Depends on how much time and money and spooky spirit energy ya got.", Toph flicked a pebble at his head. Sokka slumped and frowned, annoyed.

"That was amazing!" Aang dropped down onto the battle field, eyes wild with excitement. "I didn't know you could bend _lightning_! Who taught you that?!"

She blushed, scratching the back of her head. "I saw Zuko doing it before, but when I tried it kept blowing up in my face. Literally. So when I asked Toph about it, she showed me how he was directing his Chi in a way that I hadn't considered and...well, I tried it for the first time today."

"It took me months to learn that technique from a master, and you learned it in a few weeks. I'm impressed."

Her eyes flickered over to Zuko as he approached, the edges of his combat uniform singed, just as hers were. The Fire Lord flashed her an approving grin, catching her off guard by the flicker of interest behind his eyes. She looked away, cheeks aflame, "Thanks. I'm just glad I didn't blow up again."

"There's a maid waiting nearby with extra robes, so you don't have to wear burnt rags. I'll take you to her. We'll be right back, guys!" Zuko guided her with an arm about her shoulders, making her stomach flutter at the unfamiliar contact, but she followed nonetheless. Aang stood there.

"Aang, come on! We're gonna go pick up lunch in the village and bring it back up to the beach." Katara grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently until he finally turned away from the retreating pair, a look of bewildered focus on his face. "Aang? What's wrong?', she asked.

Aang just looked at her, glancing back to the two for a moment before walking back to where Toph, Sokka and Momo were already mounted on Appa. " I just...nothing. Let's go.'

Inside of his heart, a storm was raging.


End file.
